Philadelphia’s suit against a slate of retail pharmacies for their role in the opioid epidemic is headed back to state court, averting a transfer to the national multidistrict litigation on prescription opioids that, lawyers for the city said, would have brought the case to standstill.

U.S. District Judge Juan Sanchez of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania remanded the case, captioned City of Philadelphia v. CVS RX Services, to the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas on Wednesday, rejecting the defendants’ argument that the suit was essentially a class action and could therefore be removed to federal court under the Class Action Fairness Act.